There All Along
by SiliHearts
Summary: '...and suddenly, being 'straight' didn't matter to him anymore...'  One-Shot   KF/Robin


**Title:** There All Along

**Characters:** KF/Robin

**Rating:** K+

**Word Count:** 3446

**Warnings:** Roy/Red Arrow [He's a warning all in himself]. Fluff. Pure. Fluff.

**Author's Beginning Notes ||**

º This is a one shot written for a meme fill on YJ

º I don't own Young Justice. I just don't. If I did…they'd be exploring more than just HET relationships. Stop trying to shelter the kids from the truth, Cartoon Network/DC/Warner Brothers.

xx

_He hadn't protested much [when it first happened]._

_And perhaps that was the problem [in itself]._

_It wasn't that he hadn't seen the signs early on [oh no, he had definitely seen them]._

_Maybe it was denial [though he would never admit to it]._

_It was definitely expected, the moment the smell of burnt cookies hit the air, he knew what would happen next. But as he saw - and felt - the redhead blur past him, a new knot tightened in his stomach. Their situation…it had gotten worse, the Boy Wonder realized. At least the blur used to come around and greet him…_before_ running off. The sound which echoed out from the kitchen [his laughter and her awkward giggles] pierced his eardrums and before he could calm himself down, he had turned his body around and zeta-beamed right back, out of Mount Justice._

_The weather outside was chilly. Cold surrounded the city as people, huddled together or wrapped up in scarves and jackets, walked about. Late Winter and early Spring air nipped at his cheeks and nose as he began walking rather aimlessly though the city, alone. No one could recognize him. His short black hair was not exactly rare and his smallish frame made it all the easier to be overlooked, those shades helped too. Robin - no, Dick - didn't know where he was going anymore…what he was planning on doing…he just knew that if he had stayed any longer, it would have led to something unnecessary, something he didn't want to experience in any shape or form…_

_He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans with somewhat of a bitter thought. Ever since M'gann had joined, he knew that Kid Flash would be paying a large amount of attention to her and he was okay with that. KF was his best friend and had been for so many years. They hung out together constantly, whether it was hogging up the Mount Justice living room, pulling pranks, or making a mess in the kitchen, the two of them were inseparable. As supporting as Dick was of his best friend's attempts in 'wooing' M'gann, he couldn't help but feel more and more neglected when eventually, most, if not all, of the redheaded speedster's attention had been shifted unto the martian. And suddenly, the young teen realized, it _wasn't_ okay anymore._

_Over the past few weeks, he had only been able to be around Wally for more than a few minutes. It went from a few minutes of time he lost from the redhead to only a few minutes_ with_ the redhead. All in all, he wasn't particularly thrilled about it._

_Not thrilled. Whelmed. With no aster. No aster, but emphasis on the dis._

_To top it all off, he had lost track of where he was going. Sure, he could easily figure it out…but at this moment, it was just too much trouble for him. Too many thoughts. So he stood there in the middle of the square. Alone. In the cold. Hands stuffed into his pockets, he began to feel the cold set int upon him. _

_Then a familiar voice._

"Robin?"

xx

That was earlier, however. Now? He found himself wrapped in the strong arms of a different redhead. A different male with wondrous green eyes. How much time had passed since the older had found him wandering around, he didn't know and nor did he care. All he knew now was that they were two sets of limbs tangled together on a three person sofa in the midst of the living room of a certain red clad archer's apartment. There was an open pizza box settled near the center of the coffee table. Two plastic cups filled with their drinks, a 2 liter bottle of soda, and napkins were strewn around the said box as if it were the centerpiece to their so very healthy late lunch.

"Roy?" the younger let out a soft whisper of the older's name, eyes, hidden behind shades, still fixed upon the flickering TV screen. He felt the the body behind his back shift and a gaze burning into the top of his head. Taking the grunt given in response as permission to continue his thought, Dick wriggled his body so he could fit into the dip of the redhead's arm more comfortably before speaking again. "…will you kiss me?"

He honestly hadn't even thought about the other's possible reactions, quite unlike himself. The Gotham native didn't know what to expect from the older teen at the moment. What he had _not_ expected, however, was for said older to let out a soft chuckle before placing a calloused hand on his head to ruffle up his hair. The feeling of Roy's breath against his ear, trickling down to his back, made the boy wonder shudder, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end as the older male spoke.

"You're _thirteen_, Robin…" his tone was smooth, calm, with a hint of amusement.

"Yeah, and so?" the raven haired boy huffed back, casting the other a reproachful look.

"It's _illegal_, we of all people [being 'superheroes'] should know that…" a quirk of the brow.

"I don't care. It's just a kiss."

"Is this about Kid?"

"…"

"Thought so," an all knowing smirk.

The topic wasn't one he often thought about. It wasn't a topic he'd LIKE to think much about. No, not Kid. Kid Flash was a topic that had been on his mind for a while. It wasn't Wally he didn't want to think about. Not anything he did. But rather, what Wally _didn't_ do. He was just…

"…never there…" Dick murmured out in somewhat of a cross between a muffled and hushed voice.

This caused Roy to lean over, resting his chin on the younger's shoulder.

"What was that?" he asked, amused that the teen in his hold was now turning red. Oh how he _loved_ being right.

"Wally. He's never there anymore."

"How so?"

"M'gann."

That last bit came out a bit too bitterly, he realized, quickly regretting it. After all, it wasn't M'gann he was mad at. It was Wally. Wally. His best friend. Who had been ditching him, ignoring him, brushing him off. All just to be with the Martian who didn't so much as catch on to his intentions. Or perhaps she did, but didn't so much as care since she was so obviously fixated upon Superboy.

In conclusion, he didn't like being ignored….

It sounded horrible. Pathetic even.

Sad.

Selfish.

Everything Batman had taught him not to be.

Yet here he was, unable to help but indulge these emotions. He was Robin, the Boy Wonder, of Gotham. A symbol of fighting injustice, of hope in dark times, partner to the Caped Crusader. What he was feeling at that very moment….was something he should have never felt as Robin. He couldn't afford to be selfish when he was a symbol to the people. He couldn't wallow away in his own sadness when he needed to help show others the light.

"You like him," the older's voice cut through his thoughts like a well sharpened blade.

A moment of thought.

"I like _you_, too."

"That's not what I meant."

"…Oh."

Roy's arm shifted again and he leaned back onto the couch completely. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy his time together with Robin. It was just that every time they _did_ spend time together, somehow the subject eventually rolled onto Kid Flash. Wally. He didn't want to deal with KF and Robin's problems for them…but he also felt a sense of duty to the small acrobatic male who sought out his company [when no one else did]. So, being the 'mature' one of their friendship circle [triangle?] of three, he decided to play the middle ground.

"Are you jealous of this M'gann?" he asked Robin now, rather flatly and bluntly. No use sugar coating the words right? After all, Robin and KF were usually inseparable. It wouldn't be strange if one felt annoyed or hurt that the other wasn't paying much attention to them.

Boy Wonder's reaction, however, practically made the archer's lips pull into a wide, almost taunting smirk.

The younger turned bright red. Now sure, Roy was facing the other's back, but he noted how the one in his lap tensed up, and his body temperature rose swiftly. The red had made it to the tips of Dick's ears and now he definitely knew what was going on between the two.

"N-no! I'm not jealous! I'm mad! I'm angry! KF-Wally's supposed to be _my _best friend. I don't care that he's spending time with M'gann but he's just not spending enough time with me! This morning, he didn't even LOOK at me when I walked through that Zeta Beam," he was doing his best not to yell. Dick's voice came out in a strained way, frustrated. He squirmed a bit more before managing to half roll out of Roy's hold and latch onto a throw pillow instead. Curling up around it, pillow as the center, he let out a small grumble.

He rolled his eyes as the preteen did so and merely leaned forward, fingers interlocking with each other as his elbows rested on his thighs. The redhead knew Robin was upset; knew that he was feeling lonely and perhaps even unneeded. So he pressed a little closer to the younger and curled his arm around him again. "Okay, Robin…tell you what," Roy sighed, "let Kid do his thing and pretend that he's the gods' gift to women, and you can hang out with me."

At that offer, said dark haired male seemed to relax a bit. Slowly, he turned his head curiously towards that stern face.

"…Really?" a hesitant pause, "Aren't you busy?"

"I'll make time," a shrug, "but you promise that you'll sort whatever issues you have with Kid out."

He felt a sudden weight being thrown onto his chest but couldn't help but give an exasperated smile as the smaller flung himself at Roy, breathing out a soft,

"…thank you…"

xx

Things, as of late, had been rather quiet at Mount Justice. No yells of frustration from Superboy due to endless teasing and confusion usually caused by Kid Flash and Robin. The kitchen was in less of a mess save for Miss Martian's occasional, now steadily declining, failed cooking attempts. Few missions had been given out lately and none of the few were particularly any difficult. However, today's had gone oddly awry.

Artemis was zeta-beamed back in to Mount Justice supporting a very injured looking Kaldur who was clutching at his left side, face contorted as if holding back some sort of unpleasant words. He hissed something out in Atlantian which no one was really capable of understanding as the blonde helped him take a seat on the couch. Superboy stepped in looking extremely disgruntled, shirt torn basically halfway off his shoulders. He was accompanied by a Megan who was rather dazed. Her clothes a tad burnt [by the looks of them] but definitely not in worse shape than the KF practically leaning onto her with absolutely zero shame.

He was, however, unceremoniously passed on to Robin who in turn stumbled slightly, being a tad weak himself. The clone had stormed off almost immediately as Artemis and M'gann left to bring back some necessities to further take care of their leader. Suddenly, the two had discovered their deep respect for the team's newest member as she soldiered on despite her newly relocated, previously dislocated, shoulder.

This, however, meant leaving the speedster and Boy Wonder alone with each other. The awkward silence between the two was rather thick. More time passed before the redhead spoke up, not before letting out a sigh.

"Hey, Robin…" his voice was small, almost strained, not its normally loud and obnoxious tone.

Looking over as the other called his name, he bit down on his lower lip. "Yeah, KF?"

It was horrible. Over the past week, their relationship had gotten rocky, leading them to the lack of communication on this mission. Which then resulted in their…not so pleasant experience with a completed mission, half the team injured, and an already frustrated Kaldur'ahn growling in their face about 'setting [their] petty arguments aside for the sake of the mission'. The way the Atlantian had nearly snarled out his words might have made Batman proud…if Batman was not equally irked by the less than adequate performance.

"What's up?" he shut his mouth as if trying to figure out a different to phrase his words, "I mean, why didn't we talk the whole time…?"

"I don't know," the smaller answered truthfully, hesitantly, as he stared down at the ground.

Silence from KF, then, "Well…aside from the mission, man. It seems like you've been avoiding me…We haven't hung out in a while either."

And it snapped. All of Robin's patience and the justifications he gave himself about his best friend's lack of presence left his system. Before he realized it, he was yelling.

He'd have to kick himself later for sounding like an overdramatic girl, but he blamed it on the hormones and feeling of betrayal.

"_I'm_ avoiding _you_? Really Wally?" his voice was half a pitch higher than normal as it broke [oh puberty] with a scoff. "I'm merely giving you some room with Miss Martian since she seems to have taken up all of your time," Robin couldn't help but snap, now glaring.

Taken aback, the green eyed male just stared down at his best friend, mouth hanging slightly open in shock. "Wh-what…?" He definitely had not expected that little outburst from Robin. Robin…the one he seemed to smile a little brighter around, do something extra stupid around…the one he'd be willing to give his life up for.

"Don't you _dare_ give me that, Wally. This past week? This past week you might as well have been IGNORING me. For M'gann. Okay dude, I get it. I get that she's cute and you totally want in her pants." At that comment, the redhead had given a squeak of protest. "But seriously! What about ME!"

He was serious. Oh gawd he was serious….and he was…right. For the most part. Yes, M'gann was cute. Perhaps he wanted 'in her pants' but in his defense, he was a hormonal teenager. But…the fact that he had been neglecting Robin… Trapped in his own thoughts, Wally clamped his mouth shut and stared down at Robin who seemed to be shaking now. He didn't want to admit it, so he retorted.

"Oh yeah? Well what about you, man? You could've said something. You seem to be having a great time with RA," he sneered, not really understanding what had just gotten over him. His stomach had flipped at the thought of Robin constantly being around the male archer. _He's my best friend….that's why_, he argued, gritting down on his teeth.

"What's wrong with being around Roy if you're not there?"

"I don't know. You tell me-no. There's nothing WRONG with it, Robin. But I guess it just makes you seem rather _gay_."

The look on the other's face. Though he couldn't see his eyes.

Oh gods…oh gods…he didn't mean it. But he had said it. Shutting his eyes briefly, he forced himself to continue his accusation, "What, you've got a thing for him or something?"

The younger's face turned horribly red as the eyes behind his mask portrayed nothing but pure lividity.

"So me being around Roy means I'm _gay_? But me hanging out with you constantly, in the past," he quite literally spat out the last bit, "doesn't?"

KF kept his mouth shut, grinding his teeth together in some shame. He hadn't meant that…but he couldn't take it back…couldn't take it back.

"Well then. What if I AM gay? What then?" the raven haired male let out a frustrated noise.

He was gaping again. Gaping at his best friend, not knowing how to answer THAT bit.

"…but it wasn't Roy, Wally…it was _never_ Roy…" Robin chomped down on his bottom lip and fell silent again. His cheeks were flushed now. However, seeing no reaction from the redhead further discourage him now. Without another word or glance, he turned and ran out of the room again, not caring he was still in his outfit, he could change when he got back to Gotham.

xx

And so he stood there. Standing with his mouth still open. But a gruff voice pried him away from his thoughts.

"You realize that you have just let him run off."

Oh shit. Kaldur was still in the room. They had just had a full blown argument in front of their team leader. Well…their issues had just been 'sorted out' in a way.

"Perhaps you should go after him, Kid Flash…" Kaldur spoke again.

"! Wh-what?" he stared at the Atlantian with some expression akin to a koi fish. Though that look upon Kaldur's face probably suggested he had been somewhat offended by said expression.

"When I asked for a 'sorting out' of the issues between the two of you, that was not what I expected."

"…heheh…well. That wasn't what I expected either…"

Another awkward silence.

"Are you denying your own feelings?"

"Wait-what? Kaldur, what the hell are you getting at?" the redhead spluttered out, suddenly going an equal shade as his hair.

"Nothing. I am merely questioning if your line of questioning reflects your jealousy."

"…Jealous…jealousy? Me? Jealous of what?" he blurted out all too quickly.

This was going nowhere, really. The dark skinned male sighed again. "Of Spe-Red Arrow. Roy. You seem rather worked up about all of this."

"Of course I'm not jealous! I'm PISSED, I'm-are you saying I like Robin _that _way? Oh no. I'm straight, man. Soooo straight." His thought flashed to M'gann and he grinned shamelessly, "Sooo straight." But then, it faded to Robin. The short black hair, fragile yet strong body. Smallish frame… "Oh no…no. Nonono_no_." Yet, at the same time…yesyesyes_yes_. He was jealous. He was pissed. At himself more than anything. For neglecting Robin. His best friend. His-**His**.

A quirk of the brow from their all-knowing team leader.

And KF was gone.

xx

Mount Justice really wasn't the best place to be running from anyone. For one, it was rather confined and limited for another, it was definitely not the best idea to be running from KF of all people, in a confined area. Yet, Robin realized, storming out was maybe just the thing he had needed to calm down. The thought didn't last long though as he felt the full force of a particular speedster smash into him, causing the two of them to tumble infinitely against the grass.

At a loss for words, Robin could only stare at the green eyes now gazing back at his own [covered by a mask] so intently. When he finally found his voice again, he parted his lips but was cut off when the older pulled him into a crushing hug.

"I'm sorry, Robin. I'm sorry, I'm sorry I'm _so sorry_," he had buried his face into the crook of Boy Wonder's neck, breathing heavily, blush rising in his face.

Still winded from the tumbling, the dark haired preteen could only lie there, pressed up against Wally's chest as the other blurted everything out. Fluttering his eyes closed, he swallowed nervously before speaking up in a choked tone.

"…thought you were strai-"

He had been cut off once again, but this time by the furious crash of lips against his own.

Caution was in the wind along with all thoughts of consequences. There was nothing that could stop him now and suddenly, being 'straight' didn't matter to him anymore. _Nothing_ mattered anymore because all he ever needed…all that had _ever_ mattered to him was underneath him, held so close that he could hear the beating of their hearts synching together. Pulling back, Wally stared down at the shivering figure beneath him.

Finally able to collect the nerve, Robin looked up into the redhead's eyes as steadily as he could.

"R-really…?" was all he could manage to breathe out, heart still beating abnormally fast.

Wally dipped his head down and rested their foreheads together and let out a sigh, a weak, apologetic smile tugged at the corners of his lips. His blush had risen so much that the freckles upon his skin hardly stood out much anymore.

"_Really_"

xx

**Author's End Notes ||** Regarding possible OoC

º Red Arrow/Roy - aside from the drugs and the rage, he honestly cares about Kid Flash and Robin both as best friends…and those really annoying younger brothers you would be totally sad without but willing to smash their heads in at all costs when they're around you and pissing you off. I also wanted to explore his care for Robin too…seeing as neither of them have powers~

º Robin/Dick - He's entitled to an outburst once in a while. Come on people, he's 13, give him a break. Sure he's Batman's son, but he's still a kid.

º Kid Flash/Wally - I don't even-

It's been a while since I wrote…even long since I've written fanfiction. I'd love to see some feedback c;

• Sili


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